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About
Henry Wyman Holmes became the inaugural dean at HGSE after being chair of the Harvard Division of Education for eight years.
Earlier, Holmes received his A.B. and A.M. degrees from Harvard, where he took classes taught by Paul Hanus. As principal of Brookline’s Edward Devotion School and later head of the English Department at Boston’s High School of Commerce, Holmes returned to Harvard in 1907 as a lecturer in education and became an assistant professor in 1910. Two years later, he became chair of the education division and a full professor in 1917.
Holmes was more of a diplomat than his predecessor and could maintain more amicable relations with Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell and other Harvard University faculty. In 1927, Holmes restructured HGSE to address some of Lowell’s concerns while emphasizing education's role in societal progress. HGSE’s revised mission prioritized full-time over part-time enrollment, focused on teacher training rather than administrative positions, and made its admissions criteria more selective.
In 1933, James Bryant Conant became the new Harvard University president. He was more receptive to the challenges educators faced in the U.S. and supported Holmes in establishing the Master of Arts in Teaching (jointly administered by HGSE and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences) in 1936 to educate future secondary school teachers. The M.A.T. later became a model for teacher training programs at other colleges and universities.
Holmes resigned as dean in 1940 but remained a faculty member, becoming a professor emeritus in 1947. He holds the distinction of being the longest-serving dean in HGSE’s history.
Paul Moschcowitz was enthusiastic about being selected to paint the portrait of Dean Holmes since his son-in-law had graduated from HGSE and Moschcowitz was well aware of the dean’s many accomplishments.
Moschcowitz was born in Giralt, Hungary, in 1876, immigrated to the U.S. in 1881, and became a naturalized American citizen in 1898. After beginning his education in New York City’s night schools, he studied at the Art Student’s League from 1894 to 1898. Afterward, Moschcowitz attended the Academie Julienne in Paris and studied under James McNeill Whistler. Returning to the U.S., he became an instructor at the Art Students League and the Pratt Institute. There, he taught classes in oil portrait painting. His works were exhibited at the Paris Salon, Concoran Galleries in Washington, D.C., and at the annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design. Moschcowitz was a National Academy of Design and the Society of American Artists member. He was also trustee to the Artists’ Aid Society of New York.